


Wardrobe Choices

by Zerrat



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Blatant Misuse of Gameplay Mechanics, Costumes, Crack, F/F, Humor, Meta Fic, Pre-Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 01:50:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/pseuds/Zerrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The very first time Lightning meets Fang in Nova Chrysalia, she's wearing a rather.... unfortunate costume.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wardrobe Choices

**Author's Note:**

  * For [freestylesmile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/freestylesmile/gifts).



> Inspired by Freestylesmile's rather epic rant on tumblr, [check it out if you like!](http://freestylesmiles.tumblr.com/post/55938630299/this-is-my-opinion-concerning-lightnings-outfits)

Lightning followed Adonis through the tunnels of the bandit den, her expression carefully schooled into one of abject apathy in spite of the sideways glances, stares and outright _snickers_ her current garb was earning her. She didn't allow herself to so much as bat an eyelid, refusing to concede an inch on the outside while still silently raging inside. 

She didn't need the respect of these bandits - she just needed to talk to their boss the way Hope wanted her to. 

Still. As confident and secure as Lightning was, there were _limits_ to her patience with the constant and radical wardrobe changes. A catcall sounded off to her right, which she met with an icy glare and quickly unravelling patience, and she wondered if it were possible to give Bhunivelze a damn piece of her mind.  

Adonis, who had been rather tellingly neutral towards her since their first meeting, turned to her and gestured ahead. 

"Boss is up there," he said, nodding to her. "Good luck, newbie."

Lightning resisted the urge to remind him that she hardly needed it, and continued on. She'd fought fal'Cie, Guardians and Eidolons. She was more than able to handle some arrogant, jumped up bandit "boss" -

She froze, recognising the ornate, red lance and the wild dark hair immediately. Any introduction she might have used immediately died on her lips as she watched the "boss" swing her legs off of where they'd been resting on the table. 

_Oerba Yun Fang._

Lightning really wished she was less surprised about it. 

Fang, though, who had started to rise to her feet with a knowing look and a smile, paused as if her whole chain of thought had also screamed to a halt. A few moments of silence passed as they took one another in. Fang's jaw was slowly dropping open as she very deliberately looked Lightning over from her toes to the very... tips of her... ears.

Still very uncomfortable in the 'clothing' Bhunivelze apparently thought were appropriate for saving the world in, and very much wishing for a decent pair of pants, Lightning flushed a deep, bright red. Fang simply continued to stare for a moment, as if expecting something - before cracking up into _howling laughter_.

"Oh _Etro_ , what the hell are you wearing, Lightning?" Fang somehow choked out between her uproarious laughter and desperate gasps for air. "You look like a teenage boy's wet dream come true!"

"Fang, this isn't -" Lightning tried, her cheeks burning in indignation as she tried to silence that laughter with the coldest, most disgusted glare she could summon. Fang did not seem remotely close to getting the hint, and had _tears_ gathering in the corners of her eyes from her mirth. 

_This isn't my fault!_

Frankly, Lightning would wake up each day with what in essence were different clothing, which was bad enough to have to deal with. Sometimes they were practical, sometimes they were ball gowns, but _this_... Apparently, "god" hated Lightning enough to send her out in a skimpy, revealing _catgirl costume_ on the very same day she met Oerba Yun Fang of all people. 

Fang, who had known Lightning since the very beginning, as long ago as that felt. Back then, she'd worn her modified Corps uniform, and Etro knew she'd gotten enough jabs from Fang about the practicality of the skirt. Fang, who had _respected_ her as an equal! 

Lightning scarcely respected herself in this getup, let alone expected it from practical and blunt _Fang_.

"Etro though, did you let _Hope_ dress you today?" Fang was demanding between her chokes of laughter. Her shoulders were shaking as though Lightning and her 'catgirl costume' was the funniest thing she'd seen in five hundred years, and she was wiping her eyes on the backs of her hands. "I mean, kid had a crush on you, maybe it was a really bad idea to give him charge of your-"

" _Fang_." Lightning bit the name out, a very deliberate warning that the woman was skating on thin ice. "If I could simply change my clothes, I would. _Unfortunately_ -"

"Oh _Etro_ that is awful." Fang didn't look like she sincerely _meant_ it though. All things being fair, Lightning frankly wanted to belt her across the jaw, but somehow managed to stay her hand. She had been Etro's champion, she was the Savior, _Fang was meant to be her friend_ -

"How do you manage your whole fighting style in that? Flipping all over the place like you do, wouldn't you..." Fang cleared her throat in attempt to control her overblown amusement, but after a moment, the laughter continued to bubble free. "Wouldn't you come loose? Or is that the thing? A secret... weapon, so to speak?"

Lightning wasn't sure how she managed to blush further, but she supposed she just continued to make the impossible possible. "Damnit Fang, I swear I'm going to -"

"Going to _what_? Knock me out with a panty shot?" Fang was grinning at her. Lightning on the other hand could not see the humour in it at all. She'd spent the whole day _openly leered at_ by every creeper in Nova Chrysalia, and she was just meant to take it on the chin and laugh it off?

_That's it._

Lightning moved, her entire day's frustration at being ogled and poked fun of bleeding out and taking hold, and she slammed a right hook into Fang's chin.

"Lay you out _flat_ , the way you seemed to want," Lightning ground out, blazing hot with humiliation and outright fury as she glared down at the woman who had once been her best friend. "I can't believe you!" 

Fang simply pushed herself to her knees, shaking her head slowly as if to clear it. She took a moment to click her jaw back into place and wipe away the blood from her split lip. When she looked up, her green eyes were both gentle and relieved. Lightning's breath froze in her throat, and she no longer felt certain.

"It really is you," Fang murmured softly, and her lips parted in a brilliant smile. Just the way she had, all those years ago in the Cradle. The look in her eyes told it all. "I've missed you, Lightning."

Lightning's anger abruptly died out, and she felt oddly breathless as she stared down at her old friend.

_Fang..._

Emotion was still so difficult for her after so long in Valhalla. Her feelings felt disconnected at best, unstable at worst. At that moment, with Fang smiling at her like that, she felt raw. It was a good kind of rawness though - the pain meant she was slowly healing.

Lightning didn't know what to say. Instead, she simply stretched out her hand, a silent offer.

Fang closed her eyes for a moment, seeming to understand Lightning's conflict implicitly. Without a word, she accepted the hand up, her grasp warm and steady. A thousand years between them, Lightning realised, and things could still be the same. 

It meant more to her than she could ever say.

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like updates as to current projects or just want to chat, feel free to come visit me on my tumblr: [zerrat](http://zerrat.tumblr.com/) (personal) and [zerratwritesstuff](http://zerratwritesstuff.tumblr.com) (writing)!


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